The Nine Lords Of Order - Chapter 14

The giant eagle finally landed with a gust of wind which dispersed a few leaves on the floor. Mars and others had been in a dazed state for awhile now. They were shocked by what they were saw on their way here. The place before them was beyond majestic. Although all of them had been living like the highest nobility within their kingdoms, it was only at this moment they became aware of the huge disparity that existed between the three palaces and their own kingdoms.

From thousands of kilometers away, they had already spotted three enormous floating islands high above the clouds. Many other smaller islands would orbitate around them and several waterfalls decorated them. Beautiful rainbows dwelled above the clouds but below the islands, making it seem as if each of the islands was a sacred land above the heavens.

As they got closer they even saw flocks of wyverns and other giant eagles flying in harmony below the rainbows.

On the islands, palaces grander than cities were common thing.

In this place, roads were made of profound gold and valuable light attribute gemstones served as public lamps.

‘This is the place were I rise to prominence!’ That’s what everyone was thinking once they stepped into the LoftyCloud Island.

This place was the peak of this world.

This place was were great heroes rose.

Suddenly their trance was broken by the young woman. “Although this place looks like a paradise, the competition here is grander than you can imagine. Just because you three are ‘chosen’, it does not mean you will be given everything as when you were residing in your respective kingdoms. From now on, your achievements depend on your effort alone!”

“To live within within the floating islands you need to become an inner disciple. To do that, you need to complete two requirements. First, achieve rank 4. Second, accumulate an amount of 1,000,000 merit points.”

“””We are not living here?””” Everyone asked with a startled expression.

“Elder, didn’t you say we would choose which palace we want to go once we arrived to this place?” Mars couldn’t help but ask.

“Um, that will be when you people ascend to LoftyCloud Island. I brought you here, so you must come meet me, the 13th elder, once you ascend.” She blandly responded.

“Ascend?” Louis asked this time.

However the woman did not bother responding again, she waved her hands and a huge gust of wind appeared, lifting Mars and company and throwing them from the hundred kilometer high floating island.

Once Mars and the others realized they were falling they couldn’t help but scream.

“Eldeeeeer!!”

“Waaaah! Shit!”

“We’re falling! We are going to die!”

A few seconds later, the young woman could no longer hear their screams. She chuckled with a cunning smile on her face. ‘Hehe! This never gets old! It will be a few minutes before they land.’ If Mars and the others saw her like this, they would probably get confused and think this was another person. How could the honorable and bland looking Elder take joy from the fear filled screams from her juniors? This must be another person! While humming a tune, the woman turned around and walked deeper into the floating island, slowly disappearing from sight.

.

Meanwhile, Mars and the others had already stopped screaming. They,ve been falling for a several minutes now. They had pierced several layers of clouds, however what resided beyond them was more clouds.

They hadn’t seen the floor yet!

They were also smart. They wouldn’t believe the elder would just bring them all the way from the southern territories to kill them once they arrived.

Soon, they pierced through another layer of clouds. A few moments later they could finally see what resided below.

It was an enormous city. Far greater than their kingdoms’ capital. Even though they were a few kilometers above the ground, they could barely see the borders of this city!

However as they fell down, they still couldn’t tell how they were going to survive this. Just as they were starting to panic once more, they all felt as if they had suddenly entered some sort of force field. Slowly their falling speed was reduced. A few moment later, they felt a pulling force which directed them towards a tall black building.

A few moments later they softly landed on in front of this building. However each one of them felt their legs tremble a bit. To fall for such a long period of time it was definitely a first.

The people on the streets saw them land, after a quick glance they went back to not caring about them. It seemed as if this was not the first time they saw someone land on this place.

Soon the doors of the black building opened and an old man stepped out. He looked at the youths who had just landed and couldn’t help but shake his head. ‘How many fall just like them, full of hopes and dreams but in the end… they just stay here, never to reach the islands above’

The old man did not speak to them, he just threw four tokens and went back into the building. Neither the shady youth or Louis had brought followers, so there were only four people in their group. They each picked a token, but were slightly confused by what was going on. ‘That’s it? Isn’t that old man supposed to receive us?’

Well, that was it!

Both the shady looking youth and Louis were very displeased with the treatment. They were chosen! When had they received such lacking treatment?

Mars did not care too much about the treatment. He had lived as a lowly thief for many years. He was not going to get angry because something did not turn out the way he wanted. He turned his gaze towards the shady youth and asked “Hey! depressing looking punk! What’s your name?” The chosen from Redcastle had always been mysterious. He rarely went out and nobody really knew his name.

However the youth only shot an annoyed glare at him and prepared to leave.

“If you don’t tell me I’ll call you Dick! How about it?” Mars said with a chuckle.

The shady looking youth stopped for a second before his eyelids started twitch. ‘I swear I’ll get you killed soon enough! If it wasn’t because I’m not familiar with this place, you would be dead by now!’ However he managed to suppress his fury. He couldn’t lose his cool. Keeping his cool was very important. “Listen you cheap talking gigolo! My name is Derik!” He gave Mars one more disdainful glare before vanishing into black smoke. It seemed as he didn’t plan to trade words with Mars anymore.

‘Gigolo? Me? I’ll acknowledge I’m cheap talking, but I’m not a gigolo!’ Mars snorted, before grabbing Ena’s hand and turning to leave. He had decided to investigate the situation before figuring out what was the fastest way to ascend the islands.

“Friend Mars! Wait!”

However before he left, Louis appeared before him. ‘Friend? What’s this guy plotting?’ Frowning for a bit, he decided to listen. “Talk!”

“Well You must know about the great enmity that exist between Redcastle and Bluewaves Kingdom. There is also the fact that Bluewaves and Lugasta are not in a hostile relationship How about we team up for now? Derik will definitely come to seek trouble, however if we are together then it will more difficult for him to mess with us. What do you say?” Louis spoke with a warm tone and with a warm smile on his face. He looked like a very friendly guy.

“Seek trouble with me? I’ll seek trouble with him! Dare to mess with me, Mars? Tired of living!” Snorting, Mars turned to leave again.

“W What? Seek trouble with him?” Luis was startled for a second, but he moved to stop Mars once again. “Friend, just listen for a second. I’ll be ascending to rank 4 in a few months as well. If you can do things the easy way, why trouble with the hard way? With both of us we can deal with him easily! Furthermore I see you have a companion. If my guess isn’t wrong, she is still below rank 2. Although you don’t fear trouble, things might get out of your hands if you get overconfident.”

Mars stopped walking and thought about the issue for a bit. Then he turned his gaze towards Ena and saw her worried face. He sighed, ‘I should find a way for her strength to rise faster It’s too dangerous if she keeps her current strength’

“Fine, I agree.” Although Mars and Ena possessed the masks which could change their appearance, leaving the rank 1 Ena alone would still be dangerous. He wasn’t familiar with this place, he couldn’t afford to place Ena on risky situations.

Louis could finally sigh in relief. He was the weaker party among the three chosen. Although he didn’t know if he could trust Mars and he looked slightly unreliable It was his best choice for now. “Brother Mars, I’m sure you will not regret your decision!”

“Yeah, I hope so” Mars thought for a bit before speaking again, “Since we are working together we should divide our tasks for now. You go and investigate about the situation on this city. How do we get merit points and if there are any rules we need to follow. I’ll search for a residence. We’ll meet up at this place in twelve hours.”

“Ok, fine by me.” Louis agreed and immediately left.

Mars was also preparing to go but Ena suddenly grabbed his sleeve, “Mars I’m sorry. I seem to be a burden” She looked a him with her watery blue eyes. She looked cute and pitiful.

Mars smiled before kissing her forehead, “Silly, do you know what’s the difference between a great hero and a nobody? A hero holds something important within his heart A hero becomes great because there is something that drives him, something that makes him move forward! A nobody does not possess this. The day we separated from your other siblings, I realised that you and your sister were the most important… Ena. Remember, you’re not my burden, you’re the reason I move forward.”